Durnakh Temple
The Temple of Durnakh, is one of the many of Temples of Yevon scattered throughout the world of Spira, but quite unlike most other such Temples - the Temple of Durnakh is very rarely visited: because of the Fayth that resides within, and the Aeon that represents it. It has a dark history and thus its generally shunned by the populace - although the temple is positioned close to the heart of the city of Durnakh - most whom pass by it offer it nary a glance - cause they believe the temple itself to be cursed, due to the reviled creature that dreams within. On their pilgrimage, Summoners may opt to visit this temple and pray in its Chamber of the Fayth in order to receive the Aeon Zalera; although only a handful of Summoners do so, and only once or twice every ten years - for even they would rather avoid such an unholy ground. '' ''While there are Priests of Yevon whom serve in this Temple, none of them are happy to do so; but nonetheless, they accept their duty to the Church of Yevon nevertheless and guide Summoners and their Guardians, whom, against all common sense have come to pray to the Fayth within. '' The Temple From the outside, the Temple of Durnakh appears as an unremarkable black structure carved out of a pillar of smooth black stone, much resembling a monolith. The doors into the temple itself are likewise made out of similiar stone - and thus passerbys are occassionally incapable of spotting them at first until they venture closer - as if the very structure itself wanted to keep people from finding it, almost as if it was ashamed of what it hid. Reflecting this, the doors to the temple have no handle and are too thick and heavy to move by hand - but, once someone approaches them they will mysteriously slip open on their own accord, being bewitched by the priesthood that serve in the Temple. The interior of the Temple of Durnakh is, reflecting the general mood of its priests and its sinister history dark and foreboding in appearance. The walls, floor and roof of the temple are seemingly carved out of some smooth dark stone whom help nothing to light up the rooms and chambers of the Temple itself. Whom must instead be illuminated through the use of magical torches, whose flames are noticeably a deep shade of indigo, a trick of the magics of the priests that live there. Visitors of the Temple are usually taken aback by the sad and unwelcome atmosphere of the temple and most of them leave without a word to its residents - which is precisely according to the wishes of its clergy. Unlike all other Temples of Yevon, the Temple of Durnakh has no guestrooms, for noone would ever want to sleep in there of their own free will; and the priests outright refuse to let anyone do so, believing that doing so brings great misfortune. The priests are, perhaps tied to their duty to serve a Temple most of them think of as being impure, characterised as being generally unfriendly and unhelpful, even to visiting Summoners. Chamber of the Fayth Most Summoners whom enter the Temple of Durnakh never venture past this point, even if they can somehow bare to continue after being met with the melancholy and inhospitality of its priesthood. Upon seeing the Fayth itself, most Summoners are overcome with nausea and other highly uncomfortable emotions - even if they themselves cannot pinpoint why they come. ' ' Zalera 'In life, the Aeon now known as Zalera was Kane Seivyr. A man born into a house of lesser nobility, he was second oldest among four children. Among those four, there was only a single girl, her name was Leah - In honor of the light she brought her parents. She was reputed to be most wondrous fair, the desire of any man who saw her - and she woke envy in the hearts of other women; whom were lost in the luster of her silken black hair, green eyes and ethereal beauty.' 'She attracted many a suitor, but eventually she met a childhood friend of Kane, Lord Blaire; they fell inlove and it was believed they would soon marry. But there was implications, for there was another man whom had come to lust after her. This being none other than Kane himself, whom had fought for his lust for his younger sister for years - but he realized that he could not bare to see her in the arms of another man. Desperate to be her first, he confronted his sister in her own bedchambers and took her by force the very night that Blaire finally announced his intention to marry her.' 'Devastated by the heinous betrayal of her older brother, Leah drowned herself in a well shortly after this and Kane was seized by the authorities for his crimes. But rather than face execution, he instead pleaded to be made into a Fayth - presumeably to atone for his heinous crime and for the chance of vanquish Sin. While the authorities contested his claims for atonement, they nonetheless knew that his offer would ultimately benefit Spira as a whole - and they accepted it as a punishment in the stead of execution. ''' Thus it came to be that Kane Seivyr was made into a Fayth, forever locked in a dream picturing his conquest of his younger sister; a memory he shall revel and find pleasure in until Sin's final demise. '' ''As the Aeon Zalera, brother and sister are reunited once more; just as he hungered for her in life, the death of Leah remains bound to his Fayth forever, for it was his actions that ineviteably caused her untimely death. Reflecting his inability to distance himself from his sinful desires and failure to accept death for his crimes. Kane is reborn in the shape of a hellish angel with the mangled remains of his sister grafted on his arm, his final choice reflected in his appearance as an eerie undead creature. ''Leah's hair, in symbolism of her manner of death is perpetually soaked and dripping ghastly fluid, her appearance frozen like it was just at her moment of death. Even now, centuries after her death, she still refuses to see her brother as the monster he truly is, and thus her eyes are obscured by a blindfold even to this day. ''